The 10 Commandments of Getting Content Marketing Buy-In Every Time

But you can’t blame me, really. The #1 email I get here at The Sales Lion comes from wildly frustrated and often depressed (no, not kidding) marketers who are trying to get management and employees to buy-in to this thing we all call content marketing.

Furthermore, I have reached the conclusion that NOTHING GREAT HAPPENS IN THIS SPACE WITHOUT BUY-IN. (yes, I was yelling there, just in case you couldn’t hear what I was saying ) And if I may brag for just a minute, in the last 3 years I’ve experienced a LOT of success getting buy-in with organizations of all sizes, from the CEO to the summer intern to embrace content marketing and establish a culture therein.

The 10 Commandments of Getting Content Marketing Buy In

1. Thou shalt not use the phrase “Content Marketing” when discussing this with your team and management): Instead, start using words like listening, communicating, teaching and helping. If you do this, your staff and team might start to care and actually see the “big picture” as to what this is really all about. You may think this is silly semantics, but think again.

2. Thou shalt never say the word “blog” or “blogging” again: No one on earth has ever developed a relationship with the word blog. Again—listen, teach, communicate, help. Besides, at this point in 2014, a blog (in terms of a definition) is just a way of formatting educational articles on a website. (At least, that *should* be the case.)

3. Thou shalt eliminate as many marketing acronyms from your language as possible: For example, don’t teach your staff to be better at “SEO”—it’s about producing content so that people will find you when they search online. Explain things without jargon in a way that anyone and everyone can nod in affirmation is key here and the quality of the best teachers in any space.

4. Thou shalt hire a content marketing manager: This needn’t be difficult folks, as the world is full of recent journalist graduates thirsting to use their skills. Assuming they have the ability to write, edit, interview, and do video—they just may be an exceptional candidate for your content marketing manager and the leader of this campaign going forward.

5. Thou shalt have a content marketing workshop with your entire team: This is simply too important to skip or overlook, especially when trying to help those persons in a sales department buy-in. This meeting should answer 3 essential questions regarding content marketing: What it is, How to do it, and Why it’s so very important to be a part of it.

6. Thou shalt help the sales department understand how great content, when used properly, is the best sales tool in the world: Not only that, but it will make their jobs much easier while giving them more time to spend on qualified leads and better quality of life. Who wouldn’t want those benefits?

7. Thou shalt embrace “Insourcing”: Utilize your existing employees for content production and you’ll likely get better content and results. Furthermore, if they’re helping to produce the content, they’re going to take more pride and ownership in said content. This is critical.

8. Thou shalt identify the best means through which each employee can help: Remember, not everyone communicates the same way. Are they a writer, actor, talker, or questioner as taught in this article?

9. Thou shalt make employee participation required and part of their job description: Successful content marketing isn’t utopia people. It’s like anything else in the workplace—a duty that is critical to success. Read this article about 5 B2B companies crushing it with content marketing to learn more.

10. Thou shalt keep your employees informed of successes, victories, and other news: Whether it’s ongoing trainings, updates, email newsletters, etc. – the content marketing manager needs to keep the rest of the team up to date on the score of the game.

So there you have it folks– 10 tips that will clearly make a BIG difference when trying to get content marketing buy-in from your company’s management and employees. Tell me, what else would you add to the list? Also, if you’re looking for assistance to make this a reality with your company, contact us at The Sales Lion today.